Senior Cultural Policy Officer

The role is based within the Culture, Creative Industries, and 24-Hour London Unit at the GLA. The Unit delivers the Mayor’s Culture Strategy for London, aiming to provide Londoners with access to culture on their doorsteps.

We do this through a wide range of programmes that support the arts and creative industries to grow and be accessible to all, and the capital to become the number one destination for 24-hour culture and entertainment. Projects include the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, the Creative Economy Growth programme, Creative Enterprise Zones, the East Bank culture and education quarter, the Fourth Plinth contemporary art commission series, London Borough of Culture, and the Night-time Enterprise Zones.

This is an exciting time to join our welcoming and collaborative team, as we strengthen London’s cultural infrastructure, support creative professionals and businesses putting down roots and developing, provide cultural opportunities across the city and cement its status as the world’s creative capital.

Within our supportive and friendly team within the Unit, we are looking for a motivated, proactive, and enthusiastic policymaker to manage the development and delivery of strategy and policy. This is a great opportunity to brief and advise the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries. In our high-profile unit you will:

help the culture sector benefit from mayoral policies to improve economic fairness and build a more skilled workforce

build close working relationships with teams across City Hall and also strategic industry stakeholders like Creative Skillset, Film London, and Creative UK

work with partners across the cultural sector to ensure creative workers benefit from the Mayor’s Skills Academy Hubs, Adult Education Budget, London Living Wage and Good Work Standard – and raise the profile of these initiatives both within the unit and to industry

lead pieces of policy work – for example around freelancer working conditions

be our expert in dedicated policy areas – gaining insight into the bigger picture, proactively seeking out and identifying new opportunities, and ensuring that the Deputy Mayor and wider GLA are up to date with new Government and industry developments.

Depending on the outcome of the mayoral election in May 2024 you may also help oversee delivery of a new or updated Culture Strategy for the Mayor and shape the future agenda of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board.

Our team also delivers research and evaluation, ensuring that policy and evidence informs programmes, and that programme evaluation informs policy making. You will have opportunities to respond to high profile and fascinating policy as identified by the MCLB, the GLA and/or the industry. Currently we are developing policy responses to:

the impact of artificial intelligence on the culture sector.

the need to achieve net zero by 2030.

the opportunities provided by the metaverse.

Working closely with officers in the team, your work will contribute to policy development of these and other issues.

Principal accountabilities

Provide regular briefing and advice to the Mayor of London, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries and GLA Senior Management Team. Provide flexible policy development support across the Unit, contributing to written and oral briefings, consultation responses and specialist reports related to culture and the creative industries for the Mayor and his advisors, GLA staff, government departments and London and national organisations including:

providing concise briefings and responses to questions

making timely responses to the London Assembly’s scrutiny function

providing meeting management and secretariat functions for key meetings

representing the GLA at external events and meetings

drafting timely responses to Mayoral questions and correspondence.

Understand the impact of wider government, GLA and local authority policies (e.g. Immigration, skills, and Brexit) on the Unit’s role by building relationships with a variety of external agencies including Skillset, Arts Council England, M10 Group, DCMS and Creative UK. Advise the Unit and the Mayor’s office on the impact of wider policy to ensure the GLA responds effectively.

Direct and deliver cultural policy development including commissioning research; selecting and appointing delivery partners and consultants; managing negotiations with delivery partners and consultants; managing contracts and grant agreements; all in accordance with GLA procurement procedures.

Preside over the economic fairness and workforce skills agenda within the Unit. Work with industry and GLA teams to ensure the culture sector engages with and benefits from mayoral interventions in these areas (such as Skills Academy Hubs, Adult Education Budget, London Living Wage and Good Work Standard). Build relationships across the GLA so that projects in other teams can help achieve Culture Unit objectives; and to actively seek out and identify new opportunities and report these back to the unit.

Manage one officer (Grade 8) who is responsible for (i) delivering, monitoring, and evaluating the Mayor’s Culture Strategy; (ii) appointing members of the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board (‘the MCLB’) and acting as secretariat; and (iii) co-ordinating the unit’s response to Assembly Questions. The postholder will oversee the delivery of this work. In the next mayoral term (post May 2024) this may involve overseeing the delivery of a new or updated Culture Strategy and shaping the agenda of the MCLB.

Responsible for overseeing the delivery of a new or updated Culture Strategy (if required in the new mayoral term) and/or the implementation of the current Culture Strategy including overseeing the development, management and monitoring of implementation plans, updates to the strategy, and annual reports either internally or externally. Work across the GLA to ensure the strategy is in line with other Mayoral strategies and to maximise the benefits of strategic alignment. Work across the Unit to ensure feedback mechanisms between policy making and programme evaluation, and vice versa.

For all projects and programmes in own portfolio, work with the Unit’s project management guidelines to undertake proactive management, monitoring, verification and reporting of:

Delivery of key outputs and outcomes and programme objectives, in line with the Mayor’s Culture Strategy,

Progress against milestones for financial, outputs and outcome targets, ensuring delivery concerns are raised and tackled promptly.

Risks and issues, to ensure awareness and understanding of these and implementation of appropriate and timely mitigations.

Establish and maintain strong relationships with a broad range of stakeholders including artists, cultural organisations, boroughs, voluntary groups, funding organisations, strategic agencies, and government, to ensure successful delivery of projects and programmes, uphold the reputation of the Unit and the GLA, and assist in delivery of the Mayor’s policies and programmes.

Represent the GLA, the Unit, our projects, and programmes, to external audiences as required, ensuring a high level of visibility of our activities and of the outcomes and benefits for London and Londoners.

Hold budget accountability for all projects and programmes within own portfolio, including responsibility for accurate budgeting, forecasting and compliance with GLA approval processes and with all GLA and external funders’ financial, regulatory, audit and compliance requirements.

Manage resources allocated to tasks in accordance with the GLA’s policies and code of Ethics and Standards. Realise the benefits of London’s diversity by promoting and enabling equality of opportunities and promoting the diverse needs and aspirations of London’s communities.

Realise the benefits of a flexible approach to work in undertaking the duties and responsibilities of this job, and participating in multi-disciplinary, cross-department and cross-organisational groups and project teams as necessary and appropriate to ensure that opportunities for integration and inter-disciplinary working are realised.

Undertake any other additional duties and tasks reasonably assigned to the job.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Technical requirements/experience/qualifications

Successful track record of policy development and briefing, particularly in a fast-paced political environment, often to short deadlines/tight timescales.

Successful track record of building relationships with internal and external stakeholders – and using these relationships to deliver results.

Experience of commissioning and gathering intelligence (information, opinion, and data), analysing results, and developing policy recommendations.

Extensive project and line management experience and a track record of successfully delivering results on target and within budget, reporting to key stakeholders, managing risk and evaluation.

Behavioural competencies

PROBLEM SOLVING

… is analyzing and interpreting situations from a variety of viewpoints and finding creative, workable and timely solutions.

Level 3 indicators of effective performance

•    Clarifies ambiguous problems, questioning assumptions to reach a fuller understanding

•    Actively challenges the status quo to find new ways of doing things, looking for good practice

•    Seeks and incorporates diverse perspectives to help produce workable strategies to address compel issues

•    Initiates consultation on opportunities to improve work processes

•    Supports the organisation to implement innovative suggestions

STAKEHOLDER FOCUS 

… is consulting with, listening to and understanding the needs of those our work impacts and using this knowledge to shape what we do and manage others’ expectations.

Level 3

•    Understands diverse stakeholder needs and tailors team deliverables accordingly

•    Is a role model to others, encouraging them to think of Londoners first

•    Manages stakeholder expectations, so they are high but realistic

•    Removes barriers to understanding the needs of diverse stakeholders, including hard to reach groups

•    Focuses own and team’s efforts on delivering a quality and committed service

COMMUNICATING AND INFLUENCING

… is presenting information and arguments clearly and convincingly so that others see us as credible and articulate and engage with us.

Level 3

•    Encourages and supports teams in engaging in transparent and inclusive communication

•    Influences others and gains buy-in using compelling, well thought through arguments

•    Negotiates effectively to deliver GLA priorities

•    Synthesises the complex viewpoints of others, recognises where compromise is necessary and brokers agreement

•    Advocates positively for the GLA both within and outside the organisation

STRATEGIC THINKING

…is using an understanding of the bigger picture to uncover potential challenges and opportunities for the long term and turning these into a compelling vision for action.

Level 2

•    Works with a view to the future, prioritising own and others’ work in line with GLA objectives

•    Briefs and prepares team to accomplish goals and objectives

•    Communicates the GLA’s strategic priorities in a compelling and convincing manner, encouraging buy-in

•    Balances own team’s needs with wider organisational needs

•    Identifies synergies between team priorities and other relevant agendas

This role is based at London Fire Brigade’s Head Office (Union Street SE1 0LL)

GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.

London’s diversity is its biggest asset, and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London’s diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith, or disability.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part time work as this role is open to job share.

In addition to a good salary package, we offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan and a career average pension scheme.

Application closing date: Sunday 7th January 2024 at 23:59